On Wednesday, we talked about whether body image is a choice (and I received some really thoughtful comments – thank you!). What I was trying to say in that post is that a negative body image is the result of many contributing factors, including genetics and the environment. But while we don’t choose to have a negative body image in the beginning, we can choose to work on seeing ourselves in a positive light right now.

We are not powerless. We do have a choice to move forward.

It’s a complicated choice for sure and one that requires lots of work. But it’s still a choice.

Small Steps to a More Positive Body Image

You can start moving forward and building a more positive body image by starting small. So, today, I wanted to share with you some simple steps you can take to start building a healthier body image. Pick one to do today.

I love to read the blog Simple Mom. I think it’s a beautiful blog that offers tons of great advice for motherhood. Except that I don’t have kids. And I’m not even married (but I do have a longtime boyfriend who’s the love of my life…aww, I know). Anyway, I just love it.

Last week I was reading an interesting post that got me thinking about body image.

Today, I’m happy to feature an interview with Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway, the Inspiration, Love and Family Editor at Beliefnet and author of 13 books, including: Goddess Pages, Wedding Goddess and Your Interfaith Wedding. Plus, she’s an interfaith minister. How cool is that!

I initially contacted Rev. Laurie Sue after reading her article on Beliefnet about how we can honor ourselves, which I referred to on Weightless. That’s when I knew I had to speak to her.

Below we talked about everything from being a goddess to her favorite body image tip to becoming more spiritual – all of which may help you improve your self-image overall.

Every Monday features a tip, exercise, inspiring quote or other tidbit to help boost your body image. For many of us, Mondays are tough. We may feel anxious and stressed out, anticipating an arduous week, especially if we didn’t get much rest and relaxation during the weekend. These kinds of feelings don’t create the best environment for improving one’s body image. In fact, you might be harder on yourself and easily frustrated. You might even feel like you’re walking on egg shells – with yourself! With these posts, I hope you’ll have a healthier and happier body image day, that’ll last throughout the week.

Got a tip for improving body image? Email me at mtartakovsky@gmail.com, and I’ll be happy to feature it. It can be anything you do that’s healthy and helps boost your body image. I’d love to hear from you!

When our body image is negative, we do a lot of thinking about what we don’t have.

We don’t have muscular legs. We don’t have flat abs. We don’t have skinny arms. We don’t have a small waist.

If we do think in “I haves,” those tend to be negative, too: I have cellulite. I have fat thighs. I have a big belly. I have huge hips.

I’m thrilled to publish today’s guest post by Elizabeth Short. Just recently Elizabeth shared her story of recovery and resiliency here at Weightless (part 1 and part 2). Currently, she’s a Masters student in Counseling at The University of New Orleans, and writes the blog Finding Hope. Elizabeth is also in the process of  writing a memoir about her recovery. I love that Elizabeth is reaching out to others with her positive and hopeful message, and I love her guest post. It’s raw, insightful, brave and beautifully written. Plus, it offers really valuable advice. And I can’t say enough great things about it. I’m so grateful to her for sharing this with us.

Inpatient treatment for eating disorders:  Locked bathrooms.  Staff watching your every move, including time in the bathroom.  Meals and snacks are closely monitored.  No shoelaces, tweezers, coffee, gum or mouthwash.  6 a.m. weigh-ins.  Room searches.  Individual and/or group therapy all day long.

Sounds a little like prison to some, but for me, it was safety.  It meant I couldn’t restrict my intake or purge after eating.   I couldn’t use laxatives or diet pills.  I couldn’t weigh myself 50 times a day. I couldn’t stay isolated in my house for days at a time. It meant I didn’t have to wake up each morning afraid it might be my last — wondering if that might be the day my heart stopped beating.  It meant 24-hour support.  It meant being surrounded by people who understood what I was going through.  I didn’t have to explain why I was afraid to eat.  I didn’t have to tell them that every bite was painful.  They knew.  They got it.

You may or may not be familiar with the fantastic body-positive blog Operation Beautiful, which was started by Caitlin Boyle. The mission of Operation Beautiful is to stop negative self-talk, which as we all know is incredibly destructive, by positing positive messages in public places for others to find. It’s become this great movement – and now it’s become a book. Caitlin’s book, Operation Beautiful: Transforming the Way You See Yourself One Post-It At a Time,was released yesterday. In honor of that, tons of bloggers are blogging about body image. A huge congrats to Caitlin for an amazing accomplishment!

When I was younger, I yearned, and I mean yearned to be pretty. While school was always important to me (I refused to leave my room to eat dinner until I’d finished my heaps of homework), I remember on many occasions saying to myself that I’d rather be dumb if I could just be beautiful. That progressed to wanting to be pretty and skinny, as I got older.

I’m still reading Geneen Roth’s Women, Food and God*, and seriously think that I could create posts from just this book for a year. I love it, and think it’s a must-read. If you’re not familiar with Roth’s work, I highly suggest visiting her Web site. You can watch a video of her reading from Women, Food and God here.

I used to think that preoccupation with food stemmed from liking food too much or as a consequence of manipulating your diet to be thinner.

But like perfectionism, which I talked about yesterday, obsession, according to Geneen Roth, is a mask. It’s also avoidance of the tough stuff. (Oddly enough, right now, instead of writing this post, I’m too focused on italicizing the book title and Internet surfing…hmm…)

And this mask and avoidance, this incessant obsession with food, actually serves various feel-good functions.

Every Monday features a tip, exercise, inspiring quote or other tidbit to help boost your body image. For many of us, Mondays are tough. We may feel anxious and stressed out, anticipating an arduous week, especially if we didn’t get much rest and relaxation during the weekend. These kinds of feelings don’t create the best environment for improving one’s body image. In fact, you might be harder on yourself and easily frustrated. You might even feel like you’re walking on egg shells – with yourself! With these posts, I hope you’ll have a healthier and happier body image day, that’ll last throughout the week.

Got a tip for improving body image? Email me at mtartakovsky@gmail.com, and I’ll be happy to feature it. It can be anything you do that’s healthy and helps boost your body image. I’d love to hear from you!

I’ve been working on one particular article for Psych Central for a long time now. Too many months to count. And too many to mention without blushing and getting embarrassed. Granted I was waiting part of this time for several experts to get back to me, but I could’ve worked on the other sections of the article.

You see, this is a long article that requires lots of information, which makes me very overwhelmed. But most importantly, my need for perfection is responsible for my postponing it. In my mind, even getting started has to be the right set of circumstances, and I have to be ready to devote days to it.